Glass Mask: Decider of my own faith
by MellowMemories
Summary: Life has its misfortunes. But that never stops Maya from dreaming and hoping. She may have lost a lot of things in her life but acting is always there for her no matter what. Interesting events start to unfold for Maya. Masumi is stuck in the world his father has built for him. The encounter of a little girl awakens something new in him. What will happen from here?


_**Hello Authors and Readers. So I just finished watching this amazing work of art anime with plans to also read all of the manga. I have been inspired to write a fanfic and I shall do my best to make it worth reading. I hope that you enjoy my story as much as I will.**_

_**Keep in mind that all the actors/actresses, that I name will not be accurate in any way. However I shall be naming places in japan and plays/musicals that are well known to a lot of people in real life. This story is fictional so I am going to draw out all these names out of my own imagination. **_

**Summary: Homeless and alone in the world 12 year old Maya Kitajima is unaware of the journey that awaits her when a Unknown woman drops her ticket for a play purposely on the streets and a car is about to run her over with a mysterious man that crosses her path. She's always loved acting from the moment she could see and talk out the scenes. Even the musicals send her heart beating excitingly. What will Maya do when she gets the opportunity that she's been hiding and wishing for deep in her heart this whole time? Find out.**

**Glass Mask: Decider of My own Fate**

_Chapter 1: Unfortunate Happenings_

For about 2 years now 12 year old Maya Kitajima has been enduring the hardships of life each and every day. All alone in the world and homeless Maya misses her mother and father so much. Unable to figure out the whereabouts of her mother, she continues to hope for the one day she will reunite with her. In the very bad side of town, she has been able to do very small jobs in payment of food and water to survive. Her home is inside a large cardboard box in the back of an alley. She is able to keep herself warm at nights with an old sack that held vegetables before. Even when the rain pours she hides inside her box to stay as dry as she can even when her box gets very wet and it leaks out water. Her pillows are her hands and she's very much used to the way things are right now. She's grateful for what she has and keeps her positive attitude every step of the way. There is one important thing that keeps her alive every step of the way. She always finds a way peek into windows from the apartment building next to her and watches many dramas on television for countless hours. She is able to memorize every single line that all the characters play. Acting has been a way of life for Maya and as she plays out these characters from every single scene.

It is nightfall and Maya lays down on her cardboard looking out into the moon as if searching for an answer. She hears a strange noise inside the dumpster a few feet away from her, something that very much sounds almost demon like. Her eyes pop open from how funny and bad the noise sounds. She peers closer to the dumpster raising up the lid and of course the smell inside is overwhelming. But of course she is use to the bad smell of the dumpster. She squints a bit and the light of the moon helps her identify the noisy thing inside. It turned out to be a stray kitten that looks to be a few weeks old. Maya sighs in relief that it was not a demon. She places half of her body inside extending her arms to reach for the kitten. The cat hisses a bit at her but finally she is able to reach for the cat and grab it. As soon as that happens Maya's clumsiness takes over and the cat bites her hand making maya's full weight go inside the dumpster. She falls inside with the cat and the lid closes down on them.

She huffs a bit with frustration and tells the cat.

"Look what you have done, you silly cat, I try to save you, and you decide to take me down with you."

The cat just meows at her with a very innocent look of course. Maya hugs the kitty tightly in her arm and tells him in a very calming voice.

"Hold on, this shouldn't be a problem I just have to open the lid and we'll both be in the land of light again." With almost no effort maya opens the lid but is unable to place it back the way it was so she just climbs out and then she with the kitty in her arms she places her bare foot on the dumpster and then her foot slips and she drops to the ground landing on her bottom while holding the kitten tightly. Maya grunts a bit in pain as she massages her lower back with the cat makes itself comfortable on top of her bare legs. Its nails scratch her a bit.

"Hey now, you finally found your sleeping spot so soon?" She laughs a bit amused by how the cat is acting towards her. Maya's cardboard box was a couple of feet away from her but she decided that she would stay there and let the cat rest. She pets the kitty softly and lets it sleep and maya puts her arms back and places her hands on the cold dirty ground and continues to look at the moon.

"Goodnight Kitty, I'll see you up and early and I'll definitely have to think up a name for you and feed you as well."

* * *

Morning has finally arrived and Maya continues to sleep. The sun starts to shine heavily and some clouds are covering the bright blue sky. She lies on the ground with her body folded. Suddenly someone on top of the apartment dumps down dirty water, which unfortunately soaks Maya. She jumps wide awake, coughing and looks up at the person responsible for dumping that water on her. The Old lady responsible for dropping the bucket on the top on Maya looks down apologetically. She says with sincerity.

"Oh Maya I do apologize, I did not realize that you would be sleeping right on that spot like you normally do."

"Haha, well I was planning to sleep longer but it looks like that was a sign that I need to be up and about." Maya told the Elderly in a cheerful manner. The elderly lady just smiled at her and waved.

"Well I better get started with my work, I'll be seeing you Maya." Maya calls out to the old woman.

"Yes, take care Mrs. Aoki." Maya's old rags continue to drip with wet dark dirty water. She squeezes with her hands on her old brown faded shirt to take out as much as the water as possible. She also grips her hair hard and releases as much as the water from there as possible. After she finishes drying out she places her hands on her waist looking down at the curious kitty that had just been inches away from the splash. He might have known something was going to drop down there. Maya eyed the cat suspiciously.

"Hey Kitty, did you know that water was going to get me wet? Aha! I see why you moved now. Clever little guy." Maya grabbed her chin and looked at the cat thinking deeply. After a couple of moments she finally says in a very enthusiastic voice.

"Well my new friend, it's time to give you a name, your fur is mixed black and white and you have a black spot on your eye, I think I will call you Captain Patches." The Cat responded back with a loud meowing noise.

"It might have over done it with the name but I think that name suits you." Maya told the kitten happily. He seemed not to mind his new name.

"You'll grow into it and once you hear me saying it a lot you will know I'm calling out to you."

"So now that I have a name for you I'll see what I can do for food, you will have to wait at my home." She sighs like she is trouble.

"I hope I can earn a small scrap of fish today for my new friend." Maya then picks up Captain Patches and carries him over to her cardboard box and introduces him to her home.

"This is my home, it's not much but it does have some kind of protection against snow and rain. Make yourself at home and you can lay down on my blanket right there." She points at a old empty sack and the kitten immediately adjusts to Maya's cardboard box and it goes around in circles stomping on top of her blanket when it finally centers itself into place rolling on top of the sack comfortably. Maya tickles captain patches for a moment and she looks to her left and finds a feather dropped on the ground. She picks it up and plays a game of "catch the feather" with Captain Patches. The cat tries to trap the feather but stumbles and after a few more tries finally catches the feather in its paws and nibbles on it gently.

"Well Captain Patches, I better be off before all my job options close down. Wait for me." She stands up with great determination written in her Light blue eyes as she looks to her right side with the exit of the alley.

Maya walks away as she wears her faded brown shirt and ripped up jeans. Noticing her appearance she looks about the people who are walking decently dressed with clean clothes and some are even wearing some very extravagant suits. She passes by a couple of middle school students who look down upon her like she's nothing more than a piece of trash. Maya without a care in the world keeps walking straight ahead despite the stares she gets. She continues walking on the side walk and finds a bakery shop at the corner of the street. She goes behind the business knocking at their back door. The door opens in a flash as if they were expecting her. The young bakery man who's filled with flour on his apron greets Maya with a smile.

* * *

"Good morning, Maya, how are you doing?" the baker tries to dust off some of the flour to clean up his apron a bit.

"I'm pretty good. I am ready to start the day." She said in a gritty manner.

The Baker has always found this girl to be odd, always trying so hard to take in a job to get paid with food and water only. _Why does this child never ask to be hired and get paid?_ he begins to say to her in a serious voice.

"I really never met a girl like you who prefers to take food as payment and not earn something else in return, how do you sustain your life?" Maya barely hears him talk when she looks at the back of the tv that they have inside the bakery and she notices that there is a show on about A Pirate Captain female who falls in love with another Captain who is actually the enemy of a very notorious crew. Maya's eyes gazed into the fictional historical romance drama and she finds it so romantic how two enemies are forbidden to love yet they express their feelings to each other.

"Maya? Maaaaaya? MAYA!" the man snaps his fingers at maya and she snaps her head back into reality again looking back at the baker.

"Yes? Did you say something." Maya said truthfully not being able to hear that the baker had said something to her. He just throws his head back laughing and Maya stares at him confused.

"You always get sucked in so easily into a drama; I'm amazed that you are able to memorize every single sentence that all the characters say, even the minor roles, but your focus is lost so easily whenever you start your job."

Maya beams back at him.

"I can't seem to help it, ever since I could remember I have always, always been drawn to acting, I feel like I can play in every single role that I set my mind to and am in the world they are in."

"Well Maya it is time to face back reality and get to work, all that acting that you do is never going to get you anywhere." Maya did not let his negative talk get her down so she responds cheerfully.

"Yeah, I'm ready to start Mr. Eto." He gives her a broom, mop, and bucket filled with soap ordering her to sweep the floors from the side of the shop and make sure to clean in between the tiles with the mop. As he gets out of her sight she starts to sweep. She becomes disappointed when he closes down the door on her and she remains outside the bakery.

"Aw, I really wanted to see the conclusion to that show." Maya sweeps down the floor cleaning the best that she can, although more dirt keeps flying in, she feels it will be impossible to keep the floor clean. Her mind begins to drift away to another world. She grabs her mop and bucket and imagines herself inside a pirate ship swamping the deck. She begins to act out some scenes from that interesting pirate show she was watching moments earlier.

"Aye, Captain, ye want me to swamp the deck?" she then acts out the scene of the female captain letting go of the mop and bucket.

"Aye, be sure to do so, I better come back and see the cleanest deck out of all the ships I've owned." She tells her squire in a very rich and powerful voice. Maya's stands in the position of an intense captain. She stands tall and proud looking down upon one of her crews who are supposed to mop.

She grabs the mop and bucket again and changes herself into the young squire in training to be a navigator for the ship.

"I promise to do a good job, I'm at your mercy Captain." Maya then let's go the mop and bucket and returns to her tall position with her chin lifted like that of a actual captain from a pirate ship.

"I have great plans for you, young lad, I know that there is greatness in you so that's why in this ship, you'll be sucked out of all your energy until your body shakes, I'll make you the strongest navigator that ever roamed these seven seas, with that in mind I'd like you to also make dinner for our whole crew, we are very famished." Maya hears a bang at the door, bringing her back into the reality and the baker tells her without opening the door.

"MAYA. Enough of that nonsense, focus on your work now or else you won't get any scraps today." Maya opens her eyes wider and nods curtly at him looking in front of the closed door where he is close to.

"Yes, sir" she says with some fear in her voice. She exhales out some breath and looks at the floor with disappointed eyes. She closes her eyes for a moment realizing that she might never get a chance to stand on stage one day.

"I might as well face reality. But I'll never let anyone take acting from me never, no matter who looks down on me. I will show them what I am capable of doing, even if I am just a useless and clumsy."

As she spoke those words, she noticed a shadow figure reflecting down onto the ground and then Maya ran down to see who it was. When she came back to the side walk that person had already disappeared.

"Was somebody listening to me?" She asked herself. The wind begins to breeze a bit heavily and Maya goes back to work, with thoughts of that shadow that had been standing there for some time.

* * *

The afternoon had come quicker than expected and Maya continued to scrub the floors and clean them as best as she could. She heard the door open and that rude baker appeared threw maya half a fish that looked like it had been bitten along with a piece of bread. Maya glared somewhat at him for the way he behaved with her in throwing the food like she was some kind of animal. Maya picked it up without saying a word and said a few seconds she tells him with some slight anger.

"Don't I get water too?" and the baker just laughs at her and looks at her with self mockery written in his eyes.

"That wasn't part of the bargain, but well since I don't need you right now you can run along now. Have a nice day little girl." He shuts down the door with a loud bang and Maya blinks. She sticks out her tongue.

"Stupid ugly man!" She walks away and tries to figure out a way to earn water. She leaves that bakery and walks forward into the streets.

* * *

Today the day was very bright with clear skies. Maya decided that it would be a shame to waste a good day so she sets out and runs along into a nice park that she usually likes to go to where she can be at peace with herself.

After walking for about 20 minutes she finally makes it. She watches how green it is and even looks at the edge where she sees a big lake of water with seagulls flying on top. She looks past that large lake noticing the huge city of Tokyo. It didn't really seem that far from where she was at. Her curiosity raised up even more and wondered what it would be like to live in that sort of city.

Maya walks into some clear paths of the park with lovely wooden benches. Behind the benches were miles of grassy areas to lie down in. There were some beautiful willow trees and Maya just could not get over how gorgeous this park was. Walking over to the willow trees, she lies down behind the tree to relax and just rest and admire all the scenery before her. She could see why a lot of people visited this place. She watches a few couple arm in arm walking and a family that's playing some Frisbee together, there's also an elderly couple walking their small dogs.

Maya's eyes close and she frowns a bit, thinking about her mother and wondering why she disappeared. She remembered what a happy life she had with her Mother and her Father before when she was barely growing up. Ever since her father died Maya's mother became more distant and more unsupportive. She had been waiting at the train station to travel to Tokyo to move with her mom to find a new school and help out at a new job for at least 2 hours a day. Before she knew it her mom had already vanished leaving Maya clueless as to where she went. The station was so very crowded that wherever Maya ran she was not able to reach her mom. Maya had been running nearly all day looking around for her mother. All Maya ever wanted was support from her, and she never gave any. She always looked down coldly at her daughter as if she was ashamed to even think of her as her daughter. Maya's eyelids were becoming a bit moist as she remembered that dreadful day at the station.

"Mother, if we ever find each other someday, I want you to give me an answer as to why you left me behind." After pondering for quite a while lying in that cool soft green grass, Maya finally stood up noticing that the sun was very close to settling down.

She stood up and wiped down the front of her shirt. She fasts her pacing and goes back into the concrete path. Maya holds her breath when she notices a lady with long black hair walking in front of her. She is wearing a interesting unique dark navy dress walking in graceful steps. Something about her made Maya want to find out who she was but she kept quiet and just kept a far distance and walked in front of the lady.

They seemed to be going like this for a couple of minutes when the lady's hand went down to her side. It appeared to be a rectangular piece of paper that she was holding. Her grip in that paper loosened and she dropped it to the ground, without a care in the world she continued to walk. Maya looks quickly and walks a bit faster towards the paper. After a few more steps that she took she pauses with her mouth gaping wide open as she looks down at what the piece of paper is.

She reads it what it says looking at it with such fascination and amazement.

"Julie and the Sapphire necklace" for May 7th at 13:30 p.m., general admission" Maya tried not to get so focused on the ticket. It has always been a dream of Maya to attend a show in a theatre and watch it play live. She would sometimes go down to the local theatres and stare at them but because of her appearance with what she was wearing and how dirty her face was, Maya was sent away by the people selling the tickets. It was already known to her that she couldn't afford one anyway. But now she finally was holding for the first time in her life a ticket to a very famous play.

Maya has never seen the play before but if she could just get the chance to hear those lines she would remember them all in her heart and act them out as if she was Julie herself.

The lady that had dropped the ticket was nowhere to be found. Maya walked around trying to find the lady that dropped the ticket. It did not seem right that Maya took advantage of taking the ticket away from that lady.

Maya had dignity and would never take something else that belongs to them. Before she knew it the sun had fallen and the night sky had already arrived. The stars were very bright today and Maya looked up at them.

* * *

Masumi Hayami's cold eyes drifted into the night bright sky as his chauffeur was driving him back home after a long day of work in the office. He was very drawn into what he did, after getting educated for it he became a natural at doing business with all the entrepreneurs that cross his path.

These 23 years of his life had not felt like he'd been living at all to begin with. He had been wondering why he decided to obey all of his Father's wishes when he knew he had the option to look for his own path. Deep inside, he felt very cowardly about taking the easy way in.

He taps his finger on the glass of the car door and wonders if there's more to life than meets the eye.

It had already been like 40 minutes and Maya finally realized that she would not be able to find the lady. She held on to the ticket tightly as if never wanting to let go of it. The wind had finally picked up and Maya has been shivering. She decided to walk back home. She left the park and walked down on the sidewalk for a few minutes.

* * *

Her gaze was so fixed on the ticket that she could not see anything else at the moment all she could think about was the play and what it held.

There was a cross light she was heading towards to and the light had already turned red. She walked closer and closer to the red light not even looking at the red light for a bit. Maya steps down the side walk crossing the street with a red light when suddenly a car is going rather rapidly. It all happens so fast and Maya hears a loud honking noise and her head raises up in the instant and a look of terror appears on her eyes feeling that this is the end of her. She's blinded by the car lights unable to see and she loses her breath unable to believe that this is happening. Her grip loosens on the ticket and it drops to the floor.

Her eyes close and her body propels backwards quickly falling to the ground where the car is still in front of her.

The driver remains inside and the passenger from the back quickly opens the car door running to the front of the car to see what he finds.

The body of a small girl lies on the ground and she appears to be alright. Her eyes gaze deep into the night sky. His heart stops as he follows her gaze to see what she is staring at. Memories come flooding down from him as his childhood comes to mind. His cold eyes still remain but they begin to soften a bit. It looks like she is hugging something very close to her. A ticket of some sort. He looks at the ticket in and recognizes it. He is relieved but also at the same he stares at her in disbelief. He kneels down on one knee and grips on her shoulders gently so she can bring herself up to sit.

"Are you alright!?" She looks up at him all surprised and nods quickly.

"Yes, I am, no harm done." Her smile widens and he gives her a scolding.

"You could have been killed, did you not realize the light had turned red?" Maya looks away embarrassed.

"I don't think all of me is here today. I was just staring so much at this ticket and a lady had dropped it but as soon as picked it up she had already disappeared on me. I've been trying to find her so I can return it but I haven't had any luck." Masumi remained calmed and he gripped her shoulders for a few moments, then he let her go.

It was not like him to care about others if it was business related, but here he was giving this 12 year old child attention.

"Do you remember what she looked like?" Maya used her index finger to tap her chin and think about the looks of this woman

"I did not see her face, but all I can say is that she was wearing dark navy blue dress and long black curly hair, she had a graceful walk about her." Masumi thought for a moment remembering a woman who had been wearing an outfit like that. The more he spoke with her the more he wanted to find out. Maya continued to speak.

"It was odd the way she dropped it though, she brought her hand down quickly and let it go as if she did not really care about it." Masumi realized that the lady had dropped it on purpose. He sighed in relief and started laughing out loud. Maya looked at him clueless as if he was mad.

"What's so funny?" after a few seconds he fixed his gaze on her more seriously and told her in a gentle manner.

"Most likely I do not believe she had really wanted the ticket to begin with from the way it sounds so I think that ticket was meant for you after all, Little one. You should go and see the show." Maya looked at him all frustrated after hearing him call her "little one."

"I am not little; as a matter of fact I am 12 years old soon to be 13. Hmph!" She looked away and crossed her arms to stand up. Masumi couldn't help but smile at that childish reaction she just made. Her tone became more serious however.

"It's been my dream to see a play and I have always wanted to act out in one too I've been playing out scenes from many kinds of shows ever since I could remember. Acting is everything to me and that is all I have right now really. I truly love it and no matter what happens, I won't let anything stop me from doing what I love to do the most." She realized she was rambling and he was staring at her with gentle eyes. She blushed a little bit.

"Well I think I said too much." She said embarrassingly.

Masumi closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again although he was really concentrated on his thoughts, silently admiring this girl's determination to decide what she wants to do which was something that he had not been able to do. He had decided to choose the path that his father picked out from him. He brushed away these thoughts quickly before he became more engulfed into it.

It amazed him how she had not even had a look of terror in her eye or cried. Most people would have been shocked, scared, and traumatized over a life threatening situation. She could have died today but here she was acting like the car was not about to run her over. He along with her stood up. He cleared his throat and told her amusingly.

"Is that so? Well little one, you still have a long way to go before you are fully grown up." He noticed her appearance was a bit dramatic as if she had no home at all.

"Thank you very much, well I must go now, I'm glad I did not die today. I guess luck was on my side this time." She said in a calm tone.

"Well for all the trouble that was caused today, can offer you a ride home? It's not safe for young girl like you to be walking out this late at night." He seemed pretty worried and then Maya stared at his eyes for a moment, noticing they were cold heartless eyes. It made her shiver a bit. Pride was written all over her eyes when she said.

"I'd much rather walk; besides I can take good care of myself, good night to you sir." She bowed at him and walked away leaving him to stare at her as she made her way home.

"Unbelievable child." He said muttering under his breath. The great and powerful Masumi Hayami had been rejected from an offer, and it had truly amused him to the very core. It appeared that the girl was not very fond of him at all and it just made him want provoke her anger, something he does not do to anyone which shocked him. "What has that girl done to me?" he asked himself silently pressing his hand to his head as if he started getting a headache. This had been a very interesting encounter though. It was something Masumi would not likely forget. He got back inside the car and instructed the driver to take him back to the mansion. The car drove away into the night.

* * *

**Well that ends Chapter 1. Wow I have not been inspired to write a fanfic for a few years now. Glass Mask really impacted me strongly. So I had a strong urge to find my own version of this story. I know that there might be a lot of grammatical mistakes so feel free to review and let me know if this story is worth continuing. Thank you, readers and writers. Away I go. **


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